Swinging with the Saints
by Candra C
Summary: Celebrate the holidays with Connor and Murphy MacManus! This is a holiday collection of one-shots.


_**This is a new collection of holiday stories. They'll be posted around their respective holiday dates. Merry Christmas, everyone!**_

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><p>Boondock Saints: Christmas<p>

_Candra Hastings_

It was Christmas time. Actually, it was a month before Christmas. Connor had noticed a rather odd change in his brother as of late. For the past few weeks, Murphy, who'd been smoking since the young age of fifteen, hadn't lit a single cigarette. Connor was getting a bit concerned. Smoking was his twin's great love, besides drinking and fighting. His twin had been edgy with the lack of nicotine.

Speaking of great loves, Connor had a love for movies. Every week, on Friday nights, he'd run up to the Wal-Mart a few blocks down and get whatever looked good at the Redbox. He had a knack for discovering the end of the movies he watched a good hour before the credits rolled. However, Connor had stopped renting his one dollar treats. His late Friday nights curled on the couch with Murphy and a beer had come to a sudden halt that had worried the darker brother.

What the twins didn't know was that each of the brothers had been saving every penny they came across. They were saving up to buy each other the best presents ever. Even as little children, Connor and Murphy had worked hard every Christmas to give each other a gift the other would love.

In their tenth year, Connor had given Murphy a little sketch book that the darker twin had doodled in every day, paying more attention to his drawings than school at times. Murphy had given his brother a nice pair of boots that the fairer twin wore every day until the soles became old and worn and his feet grew too big. Both brothers still had the little book and the old shoes.

This year, Murphy had his eye on something special for his twin. Yeah, it tied in to them being Saints this year, but he still knew Connor had always wanted these... However, his gift was thirty dollars, and for him, that was a lot. Still, if Connor wanted it, he would give it to him. Even if it required suffering. Sometimes, his hands would shake as his body went through withdrawals. He was getting a twitch in his eye from stress because he wasn't used to not using his hands as much as he used to.

Connor had seen the perfect present for his brother at the store. He had it on hold for him at the pawn shop while he raised the money sacrificing his weekly movie night. Connor had become bored as hell in result. He still had beers with Murphy, but he no longer had a mind-boggling plot to stimulate his thoughts. He figured it was a good idea that he and Murphy had decided to not do any Saint business until the holiday season was over, because his plans were... well, they were starting to suck. Badly. I couldn't have an original idea to save his life, and he was too afraid of getting Murphy killed with a bad plan to try another one totally based on a movie.

The month of December passed quickly. Before they both knew it, They only had seven days to get some Christmas cheer in their crappy little squatter's apartment. Wednesday, Connor managed to bring a tree in. It was fake and plastic, and he'd found it in someone's trash, but it wasn't bad looking and he'd decided to take it, thinking no one would miss it.

Thursday, Murphy brought some popcorn home. They had plenty of string from when they had to stitch each other up from a rough job. They popped the five bags of popcorn and strung it all on their little tree, adding a little decoration to it. They went to bed satisfied with it.

On Friday, they went to the Dollar General and got some boxes of ornaments. They were simple and plain, but they still made the boys happy. They spent an hour hanging them on the tree until the thing looked as good as new, like something out of a Hallmark movie.

The bought eggnog on Saturday, happy to have the weekend to prepare for the Christmas season. Not only did they buy eggnog, they also got a pumpkin pie for dessert. They were heading out of the store when they spotted wrapping paper and tape. Both brothers made a mental note to sneak away to get some later that week.

"Later that week," turned out to be Sunday. Connor, more of a morning person than his twin, snuck out before Church and bought some green wrapping paper with Santa on it. He was praying Murphy would like it after church, while Murphy had snuck off to buy red paper with little snowmen on it. Now, they just had to get their gifts...

Monday, after work, Murphy went to the leather store. He made his purchase, handing over the money in wads of crinkled number one bills and combinations of dimes, nickels, and quarters. He always kept his pennies. He came home and hid his gift inside his pillowcase, a place Connor would never look. He fell asleep that night feeling proud of himself. Connor would be happy.

Tuesday, Connor went to the pawn shop and got his gift that had been on hold for him. He handed the man the money, wrapped neatly in a rubber band. Whatever chang there had been was handed over in a plastic baggy. He hid his present under his old, lumpy mattress so Murphy would never find it. He fell asleep with a grin on his face. Murphy would love it.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve. It was the day before Christmas. Once again, Connor woke up early before Murphy was awake to wrap his brother's gift. He wrote his brother's name in elegant script and laid it carefully under the tree. Then he went back to sleep.

The brothers slept in. When they woke up, they decided to go to a diner to get an actual meal together. They ate juicy cheeseburgers and drank up colas and thick milkshakes. It was a good night.

They stayed up late that night, watching the stupid little claymation cartoons while drinking eggnog, curled up on the couch under thick blankets. Their illegal apartment didn't have any heat. If it was cold enough, like it was that, they would push their mattresses together and take comfort in each other's body heat.

In the middle of the night, Murphy snuck out of bed, leaving Connor to the cold of sleep. He quickly wrapped Connor's gift, making sure it looked as neat as his freezing, trembling fingers could manage. He scrawled his brother's name on the gift and set it next to Connor's present, under the tree. He then crawled back into bed, almost asleep when Connor pulled him close for warmth. Murphy rolled his eyes at Connor's affection. Then, he fell asleep.

Murphy woke up early the next day. Christmas was the only day of the year he would willingly wake up early and in a good mood. Like a little kid, he jumped on Connor's bed, startling his fraternal twin awake. "Connor! It's Christmas! Wake up! Wake uuuuuuup!"

Connor was startled but he woke up laughing. "Murphy! Get off!"

He took Murphy by surprise, pulling him to the ground. He rolled on top of his brother and tried to pin him, resulting in a ten minute long play fight. They were evenly match, ending their wrestle in the exhaustion, breathing deeply on their backs.

When they recovered, they crawled over to the tree, sitting cross-legged like the little children they still were in their hearts. They passed each other their presents at the same time and they had to flip a coin to see who would go first. They always liked to watch each other open their presents, savoring the moment.

Connor lost the draw, meaning he had to open his gift first. He laughed a little to himself as he peeled away Murphy's snowman wrapping paper. He stopped laughing pretty quickly when he saw what it was.

Murphy took his silence to be bad thing. "Uhm... I juss... I know yah complain about rope burn when yah don't wear gloves... An' yah don't like to wear gloves when yah shoot 'cause they mess with your grip so I just thought... Uhm, I guess it was a dumb idea...

"No," Connor said, wonder in his voice as his fingers caressed the soft yet tough leather of his new fingerless gloves. "I love them. I love them so much. They're perfect, Murph." They were perfect. They had grip-like palms and studs at the knuckles, adding a deadly weapon should he get into a fight. They were biker gloves, and Connor loved them.

Relief flooded Murphy's throat when he saw his brother liked his Christmas present. It made the weeks without smoking worth it. It was beyond worth it.

Suddenly, Connor had his twin in a hug as he murmured, "Thank yah, Macho Murph... Open yours now."

Murphy pulled back and did as he was told, unwrapping his present from Connor. His heart twisted with joy when he saw what it was. It had a beautiful hilt, made of brass knuckles as an extra weapon. He pulled it from his sheath, exposing a long, beautiful, deadly blade. It was a stud Rambo knife.

Connor saw the joy in Murphy's eyes. He grinned at him. "I hope yah like it. I saw the brass knuckles on the hilt an' I just had to buy it for yah."

Connor was tackled to the ground in a hug from his brother, knife having been set aside as Murphy held him tightly. "Thank yah, Connor... This is the best present ever..."

In fact, it was the best Christmas the boys had ever had. Because even if the presents were really nice, what mattered was that they had each other for their 28th Christmas in a row. And even if it was just a tiny Christmas, pulled together with cheap decorations and their single gifts, it was theirs, and that's what mattered the most.

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><p><strong><em>Again, have a merry Christmas and I'll see you again this New Years.<em>**


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